It's a Brand New Year!

New Years Resolution #1: Post to the gourmet blog monthly! My deepest apologies to those who faithfully follow our blog! The 2nd half of 2013 was not a success in the blogging world for me. However, I am recommitted to making regular reports of the Gourmet Girls dinners together as well as my personal cooking and baking.

The Gourmet Girls kicked 2014 off with a small but very fun group. We met on Tuesday, January 14 in Lara's lovely home for a delicious meal. Since my camera battery went dead upon arrival, all pictures from this evening were taken on our phones, thus the quality is not great. But, the food was fantastic!

Andrea, Lara, Bridget and Jodi

We started out the evening with Sundried Tomato Pesto by Andrea. This recipe comes from The Gathering of Friends. It was absolutely delicious. I made Spinach-Mushroom Salad from one of my new cookbooks, The Romney Family Table (a Christmas gift from my mom)! Jodi favored us with Never Fail Refrigerator Rolls and Lara's main dish was Linguine with Shrimp Scampi, a Barefoot Contessa Recipe. The flavors of all of the dishes blended so well together. Even without dessert we were full and satisfied.

 Sun Dried Tomato Pesto

4 oz. bottle sun dried tomatoes

2 Tbsp fresh basil

2 Tbsp fresh parsley

1 clove garlic

1/4 c. Pine nuts

3 Tbsp white onion, chopped

1/4 c balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp tomato paste

1/3 c crushed tomatoes

1/4 c red cooking wine

1/2 c olive oil

1/2 c Parmesan cheese, grated

Kosher salt to taste

Place sun dried tomatoes in a bowl and cover with warm water for 5 minutes. (Andrea DID NOT do this. She drained the tomatoes and used the olive oil from the jar as part of olive oil in the recipe).

Spinach-Mushroom Salad

Salad

1 big bunch spinach

1 head lettuce

1 purple onion, sliced into thin rings

3/4 pound mushrooms

3/4 pound Swiss cheese, grated

3/4 pound bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled

Dressing

1/3 cup vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons grated onion

2 1/4 teaspoons poppy seeds

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 teaspoon dry mustard

3/4 cup oil

Wash spinach and lettuce, spin dry, and tear into bite-sized pieces. Combine with remaining salad ingredients in a large serving bowl.

For dressing: Whisk together vinegar and sugar. Add onion, poppy seeds, salt, and dry mustard. Whisk until well blended. Gradually pour in olive oil, whisking to combine. Refrigerate. When ready to serve, pour dressing over salad and toss gently.

Never Fail Refrigerator Rolls

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

Melt together; don't scorch. Set aside to cool.

1 Tablespoon yeast

1/4 cup warm water

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add a pinch of sugar.

2 teaspoons sugar

3 eggs, beaten

4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Combine eggs and sugar and beat with a fork. Add the milk mixture and yeast mixture. Blend with a fork. Add the flour and salt and mix in mixer. Cover tightly and put in the refrigerator overnight.

Two hours beofre you want to serve the rolls, roll the dough into a circle on a floured surface. Your dough will be sticky, so use enough flour. Brush with melted butter. Cut into pie shaped wedges and roll like a croissant. Let rise 2 hours at room temperature. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

Linguine with Shrimp Scampi

We missed you, Lynley, LS and Raquel!

A Flair of Asian

On May 21, 2013 five of the gourmet girls (we missed you Andrea & Lynley) met at LS's place for a delicious dinner! LS invited her friend, Jill Clawson Smith who is a food stylist, to give us some tips & tricks for high quality food photography. Jill does beautiful work - I'm getting hungry just looking through all of her food pictures on facebook! Our appetizer was Coconut-Crusted Shrimp (Martha Stewart) by Raquel, then a delicious Asian Cabbage Salad (Our Best Bites) by Lara and Fabulous French Bread by Jodi. LS's fabulous main dish was Kalbi (Korean Barbequed Beef Short Ribs). She served a Brown Coconut Rice on the side. I, Bridget, did a Chocolate Trifle for dessert; sort of a made-up recipe. Once again, a gourmet success!

LS's Table

Lara & Jodi

Raquel, LS and Bridget

 Coconut-Crusted Shrimp

 

  Asian Cabbage Salad

 Fabulous French Bread

Kalbi (Korean Barbequed Beef Short Ribs)

Brown Coconut Rice

 Chocolate Trifle

Rocking the Raclette!

I'd never heard of a raclette until Andrea brought this idea to our attention, but it was super cool! The gourmet girls met on April 30, 2013 for a raclette adventure! Andrea provided all of the meat (steak, chicken and shrimp). Each of us brought veggies, fresh herbs, cheese and bread to complete the meal. We also had some different dipping sauces, including a balsamic reduction, which was amazing! Raquel made a very cool pineapple dessert to finish off the night. Thank you Andrea for introducing us to such a fun way of cooking!
 

Meats and veggies are placed on top to cook and you put cheeses in the little trays underneath to melt. As you can see, Andrea had the raclette in the middle of the table and these cool plates with divided sections to help organize your different items (kind of hard to see on the white background). 

 

 

 Lynley, Bridget, Jodi, Lara and Raquel

Bridget and Jodi

Andrea, Lynley, Jodi, Lara and Raquel

 Lara, Lynley and Raquel

 

 Here's a shot of our assembly line/buffet.

 

 

 

This was one of my creations - sourdough bread, melted cheese, fresh basil & tomatoes with balsamic reduction. YUM!

Raquel's fancy Pineapple Dessert

Seven Ladies Dining

The Gourmet Girls gathered at Miss Lynley's on February 20, 2013 for yet another delicious meal.  We started the evening off with Butternut Squash Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons by LS, then an amazing Chopped Salad with Lemon Basil Dressing by Andrea. Raquel wowed us with some awesome Crusty Bread. Our main dish by Lynley was a Tri Tip. Unfortunately I didn't get the recipe or take a picture; duh. Jodi made fabulous Blue Cheese Scalloped Potatoes with Chipotle and Bacon. Our dessert by Lara was Chocolate Eclair Cake. I've made it a couple of times since. It's easy and delicious. It's also easy to make a sugar-free version if necessary. I brought a take-home treat of Sticky Vanilla Popcorn. It was so nice to have all seven of the gourmet girls together for this delicious meal and evening together.

 

The group sans LS: Lynley, Jodi, Andrea, Bridget, Raquel and Lara.

 

 Jodi, Andrea, Bridget and Raquel

Lynley, LS and Lara

Butternut Squash Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

1 Butternut Squash (2 3/4 lbs, cooked) - Laura says she usually opens it up, removes the seeds and places it face down in a glass dish, covers it in plastic and steams it in the microwave for about 15 minutes or until it feels tender.
1 T. Butter
2 cups chopped peeled pear (1 lb)
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced onion
2 1/3 cups water
1 Cup Pear Nectar
2-14 oz cans of Vegetable Broth
2 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 cup half-and-half
Saute butter, onion and pear until lightly browned.  Add squash pulp and all ingredients EXCEPT for the half-and-half.  Simmer for about 30 minutes.  Then puree the soup, add the half-and-half and serve.  Voila!  super simple!

Chopped Salad with Lemon Basil Dressing

Andrea said this is her favorite salad at Ruth's Chris and she was determined to make her own! We were all so happy for her determination because it was amazing! For the crispy fried onions she thinly sliced onions, coated them in flour and salt, then fried them in hot oil. Isn't this a beautiful creation?

Crusty Bread

This was DELICIOUS! It is time consuming because of the long hours of rising, but Raquel assured us it was very easy.

Blue Cheese Scalloped Potatoes with Chipotle and Bacon

Chocolate Eclair Cake

Sticky Vanilla Popcorn

I was the "extra" for the evening so I brought a take-home treat of Sticky Vanilla Popcorn. Embarrassingly enough, I made this in September of 2010! So this was a repeat. Here is the recipe, in case you missed it the first time! 

1 cube butter

1/2 cup sugar

A little less than 1/2 cup Karo syrup

1 tsp vanilla powder

Pop popcorn and set aside.  Melt butter in saucepan on stove.  Add sugar, Karo syrup, and vanilla powder, stirring continuously.  Let boil for one minute.  Stir in popcorn and enjoy!  I popped 3/4 cup of kernels and it seemed just the right amount to be thoroughly covered, but not too gooey.  I dump the popped corn into another bowl after it has popped to remove uncooked kernels.

2013 Gourmet Kick-Off!

Gourmet Girls are back! My apologies to our loyal followers for being such a slacker for the past six (ok, seven) months! I promise to post more regularly. So, here is a bit of 2013 in review . . . The Gourmet Girls kicked off the new year on January 9 at Manwaring Ranch where Miss, excuse me, MRS Jodi hosted a lovely evening. We started off the night with a few appetizers by Andrea, Jan's Crescent Rolls by Lara, Rosemary Pork Tenderloin (Keeping Up) by Jodi, Brown Rice and Wheatberries (Barefoot Contessa Foolproof) by Bridget, Peanut Butter pie by LS and a take-home treat (Coconut Key-Lime Squares) by Raquel (aka Martha Stewart). We missed you Lynley!

 

 The lovely table

 Our crew: LA, Raquel, Jodi, Bridget, LS and Andrea. 

 We missed you Lynley!

 Props to our photographer Srgnt Manwaring!

This was the "act like you all like each other" pose!

Appetizers by Andrea

Jan's Crescent Rolls by Lara

3 rapid rise yeast packets

1 cup sugar

2 cups luke warm water

1 cup butter (melted and cooled), plus more for brushing (about 1/2 cup)

6 eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp salt

8 cups flour (not self-rising)

Mix yeast with 2 TBS sugar and then add 2 cups water and stir.  Add cooled, melted butter, rest of sugar, beaten eggs, salt and flour and mix.  Dough with be VERY sticky.  Let rise 2 hours. Punch down and refrigerate overnight.  Divide dough into 4 equal parts.  Roll each into large circles.  Brush top with melted butter.  Cut into triangle pieces, 12-16 each circle. Roll each triangle starting at the largest end.  Let rise at least 2 hours on buttered cookie sheet.  (Lara used a silpat). Bake at 400 degrees for 10 min.  Watch carefully.  Makes 48-64 rolls.

Rosemary Pork Tenderloin by Jodi

2 pork tenderloins
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Combine marinade ingredients and pour over pork in a Ziploc bag. Marinate several hours or overnight in refrigerator. Grill on the barbeque or broil in the oven, turning often, until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees. Let stand 10 minutes, tented loosely with foil, before slicing (temperature will rise to 155 degrees while standing). Slice and serve.

Brown Rice and Wheatberries by Bridget

I was excited to try out a recipe from my new Barefoot Contess Foolproof Cookbook my mom gave me for Christmas! This was delicious and healthy!

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 large)
1 cup brown rice, such as Texmati organic
1/2 cup hard red winter wheatberries (I found these at Good Earth on 9th East)
1 cup thinly sliced scallions, white and green parts (6 scallions)
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
3 1/2 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup cranberries

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.

Heat the butter and oil in a large pot or Dutch oven, such as Le Creuset (this is what I used). Add the onion and saute over medium heat for 8 minutes, until translucent but not browned.  Add the rice and wheatberries and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

Stir in the scallions, pine nuts, chicken stock, 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper and bring to a boil. Stir, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and bake for 50 minutes. Stir in the cranberries, cover and set aside for 15 to 20 minutes, until the grains are tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.  Depending on the saltiness of the stock, add 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp black peper to taste, sprinkle with sliced scallions, and serve hot.

Peanut Butter Pie

Ingredients:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup Peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
8 oz. whipped topping, thawed

Directions:
1. Mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth
2. Blend peanut butter and vanilla, fold in whipped topping.
3. Spoon into pie crust and refrigerate for 4 hours.
4. Drizzle with chocolate syrup.

Coconut-Key Lime Squares